Antagonist: How is this happening?
Protagonist: Didn't you know? A girl's scent is just as soft and gentle as boobs!!!
Antagonist: NaniiiiiIIII??!?!
It's this type of senseless dialogue and strange plot that alienates all who can still keep a level head after seeing what is pretty much an endless stream of topless or otherwise unclothed girls. Though if that's all you're really looking for, feel free to dig in.
Animation:
Dakara is standard fare animation quality wise. Colors are nice and vibrant but there are scenes where they could have used some more background detail, and also some scenes that would have done better with less CGI. So basically Shinigami are (seemingly) mostly cute girl-like creatures that dress similar to the familiars in C (with weird head gear). These Shinigami transform their uniform in preparation for battles- but they're probably better of in street clothes as the clothes pretty much evaporate when they're low on power. Due to this, expect almost constant nudity throughout the entire series. Styling-wise, everyone is easily distinguishable though the constant addition of new characters is a bother.
There's quite a bit of action with your standard magic elemental attacks though most of the time damage seems to be minimal (other than to the clothes of course). During battles, the Shinigami puts up what's equivalent to a fuzetsu from Shana and uses "life" energy to repair all damage done during the battle. As for ecchi, all the power for these attacks and abilities is sourced from humans, who apparently can increase their "energy" reserves based on what makes them interested. In the case of our protagonist, it's anything ecchi. Thus surprisingly, ecchi is actually baked in as a primary feature, rather than as just fan service, so expect it in large quantities here.
Sound:
The series opens with an energetic jpop song and ends with a catchy, somewhat playful ED. These fit the mood fine though aren't really collection-worthy. BGM is average overall with
one track that you'll soon recognized as it's overused.
VA performance overall was, as well, fairly standard. I can't really blame the VAs though as, as seen from the lines above, some of the dialogue is a bit dry/strange.
Story:
An ordinary dude (with an obligatory childhood friend next door) finds a mysterious, red-headed beauty standing in the rain outside his house. When he lets her in she tells him he has less than three months to live. However, if he agrees to form a Kurokami-like contract with her, a shinigami, she promises to save him. Her goal is to find a certain person who has a huge amount of energy (apparently famous people have more energy) at his school. How will she locate them? She has a Dragon-ball power-scanner-like device that measures people's energy.
The story follows the pair as they seek out individuals as school and are attacked by other shinigami. The first half of the show is extremely predictable as it follows the same pattern of being attacked by an antagonist, who then somehow becomes an ally and an additional "rival" for the protagonist's harem. The story builds to a seeming climax around halfway through the show, and then the pacing goes awry. The show stops being an action-harem and transforms into an emo show not too different from the majority of Da Capo 2 SS. The story then, unconvincingly, tries to tie everything up with a last-minute climax that feels more like an afterthought. Finally, the show ends with the obligatory open-ended harem conclusion.
The presentation of this story felt jarring at times. A lot of major events happened just because of conveniences. For instance, if the main character had moved 5 or so degrees left or right at the first climax, the result would have been very different. Another example is the power scouters. Just like in DBZ, humans can vary their power level depending on how they feel, so it feels really odd that the Shinigami have never noticed this fact. Overall, it really feels as if the director felt he could get away with short cuts, assuming the viewer was only focusing on the nude girls bouncing around the screen.
Character:
The picture doesn't get much better here as well. Most of the characters feel very generic, yet certain character behaviors and interactions feel contrived and unnatural. For example, our protagonist is a really cheerful and openly perverted dude. As in Kurokami, he learns in the series that his contract enables him to use certain powers as well. Empowered by this new ability, he becomes a brash warrior who thinks he can protect his shinigami, despite never having any real battle training. Fast forward a single episode and he becomes a shriveled wimp unable to leave his bed. These transitions are not adequately developed, leaving to a very artificial aftertaste for many of the characters.
Due to the above issue, you never really feel that the characters are plausible, and thus don't try hard to relate. This dooms any efforts at bringing out the development of the characters, which is pretty minimal in the first place. Add the fact that secondary characters are introduced and, just as quickly, disappear and you have a recipe for a pretty poor performance.
Value:
Despite having an interesting twist to some established anime patterns, Dakara ends up failing in its execution; falling in the same bucket as other generic harems that go nowhere such as Champione and Hagure. The only characteristic that really sets this one apart is blatant nudity, and unless this is your thing, I'd recommend skipping this one.
